calendar>>March 6. 2009 Juche 98
DPRK-U.S. General-level Talks Held
Pyongyang, March 6 (KCNA) -- The DPRK-U.S. general-level talks were held in Panmunjom on March 2 and 6 at the proposal of the Korean People's Army side.

Present at the talks were the delegation of the KPA side led by KPA Major General Kwak Chol Hui and the delegation of the U.S. forces side led by U.S. Air Force Major General Johnny Weida.

At the first-day talks the head of the delegation of the KPA side roundly exposed the aggressive and dangerous nature of the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military war exercises, large-scale DPRK-targeted saber rattling, to be staged by the U.S. forces side together with the south Korean puppets from March 9 to 20, citing the arms buildup and military exercises perpetrated by the U.S. forces side recently.

He solemnly clarified the principled stand of the KPA on the above-said war maneuvers.

He declared that the projected joint military exercises will pose increasing danger as they are timed to coincide with a spate of bellicose remarks let loose by the U.S. and the south Korean conservative forces as regards the projected launch of a satellite by the DPRK. He strongly urged the U.S. forces side to immediately cancel the plan for the exercises for a war of aggression.

The U.S. forces side tried hard to cover up the aggressive nature and purpose of the exercises at any cost, insisting that they are "annual ones" and aimed at "defense".

The projected saber rattling which the U.S. forces side is going to stage by mobilizing huge troops and modern operational hardware as it did in the past goes to prove that the promise made by the new U.S. administration that it would seek a negotiated settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue is no more than flamboyant rhetoric, he noted, adding that whether the U.S. forces side meets the DPRK's request for suspending the large-scale joint military exercises or not will serve as a barometer showing whether the new U.S. administration is set to follow in the footsteps of the preceding administration which pursued a hostile policy toward the DPRK.

That day the U.S. forces side said it would seriously examine the DPRK's request for the immediate suspension of the said exercises and in order to give an answer to it the former proposed resuming the general-level talks on March 6.

At the talks on March 6, too, the U.S. forces side justified the exercises and charged that the DPRK's preparations for the satellite launch for peaceful purposes and the action taken by it to disallow south Korean airliners flying in the air above the East Sea of Korea pose threats.

The head of the delegation of the KPA side made it clear that the satellite launch is an independent right pertaining to a sovereign state under international law, adding that it was an entirely just measure for self-defense for protecting the security of the DPRK for it to have taken the above-said action at a time when the U.S. is putting military pressure upon it and posing threat to it after amassing aggression forces in the East Sea of Korea.

He strongly warned the U.S. forces side that as long as it does not cancel the DPRK-targeted war exercises, the KPA will take strong countermeasures to cope with the policy taken by the new U.S. administration, judging that the U.S. hostile policy to bring down the DPRK by force of arms remains unchanged and in that case the U.S. forces side will be held fully accountable for all the ensuing consequences.

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